Colorful & Overdue

Its been (way) over two week(s) since the Spring Indie Garage Sale so I figure I've had more than enough time to recuperate and share how it went. I always look forward to the IGS but working a show all weekend (especially alone) really takes it out of you. The layout was a little different compared to the Holiday event in December and helped keep it less congested for the shoppers. I got a chance to walk around a little and I thought it had a decent flow.

I played around with my table layout, but of course it's always a work in progress. Here's how my setup looked if you didn't make it to see in person -

I've been trying to work on having a good mix of items on the table without overcrowding it. One of these days the solution will come to be, but until then I'm having fun with different display ideas.

I tried to keep extra shopping to a minimum, since sales are a little slower outside of the holiday season, but I did leave the show with some new goodies. Of course no Indie Garage Sale experience is complete (for me) without a stop at JCookies table for a cream cheese brownie or (ok, and- I got both) a blueberries & cream cookie. I so look forward to those treats and I generally let myself indulge a little on IGS weekends.

I also picked up some jams from Red Fox Farms. I got a Carrot Cake jam (yum!) and a Pepper Jelly which is A-mazing on eggs.

My favorite score though? Well just see for yourself - 

My neighbor this time around was Denise from Whirled Peas Beads. I am a sucker for glass and she make some amazing beadss. I had a hard time choosing, and in my head I am always replaying that one scene in Cinderella when Gus Gus and Jacques are trying to find supplies for her dress when he notices the string of pearls - OOOOH BEADS. I am looking forward to working with the sets I did get. The lime green pair I just may keep for myself - I've been so drawn to that color this spring.

Not only does she make fantastic beads, she also creates beautiful jewelry. Check out her site for more goodies 

Here

Next time I'll share some of the pieces I've been working on - it has been so fun incorporating new accents into my chainmaille. In the meantime, I'm getting ready to participate in THIS fun event tomorrow. I'm not usually the type of person who likes to get messy, but I can make an exception if I get to wear a rainbow.

Happy Friday!

Spring Things

Hello again and welcome back to my little corner. Here in CNY the weather is finally making a turn for the warmer and I could not be happier. Spring comes with the promise of sunshine, daffodils, and the return of one of my favorite events - The Indie Garage Sale! Once again I will be joining a plethora of other fabulous local artists at the Jewish Community Center in Utica. Check out the list of vendors HERE.

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I have been busy getting things ready- making more items I've sold out of, tweaking old items, and building up stock of some of my popular pieces. I went through my inventory and re-listed quite a few things in the SHOP. Check out some of these pretties - 

  

I've been on a kick this year of learning new techniques, and have taken to borrowing up to 20 books at a time from the library! Mostly about wire wrapping but also on the history of different jewelry styles as well as books on making things from recycled materials. Just last night I was practicing some wrapping to learn how to make my own clasps and findings for my chainmaille pieces:

(sorry for the dark photo - my house is perpetually dim and my phone takes bad pictures)

One of the other things I hope to improve this year is my shop presence - between photos and listing writing, to finally getting around to making a website. It's been on the backburner for far too long. I am starting tonight on the photo work though, by pricing out a new camera. I'm far from a pro but not quite a beginner, so any tips on equipment would be well appreciated.

I'll try to keep up with the blogging too - I have so many pieces I'd love to share. In the mean time, Happy Spring!

HOLIDAY INDIE GARAGE SALE

What are you doing this weekend? 

I'll be here - 

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Check out this list of awesome vendors who will be there with me!

Whats Going On Here

Forget about March Madness, it's going to be April Insanity in my neck of the woods - I thought I'd share some of the craziness as it's about to begin this weekend with a trek over to the state capital to celebrate her Champagne Birthday tomorrow.


After that of course is Easter - I am trying hard to come up with easter basket ideas that do not involve candy, and hopefully involve items I can re-purpose from around the house. The twins are 3 so I think as long as we have fun stuff hidden in eggs to find they wont mind if it's their own toys. I found a post with a lot of great ideas here. 


A short list of ideas I'll be including - 

• Stickers
• Sidewalk Chalk
• Puzzles
• Glow sticks
• Coloring books
• New shoes - I got each of them a pair of flip flops for summer
• Chainmaille bracelets (they've been asking for one every time I work on something, it's only fair! :D)
• and yes, some snacks - probably fruit snacks and jelly beans. They actually don't like much candy.

Now the BIG events in April - which are making me a little crazy already just thinking about it, but I am so over the moon excited for - 

The Spring 2012 Indie Garage Sale!

Photo by  Rob @ Indie Garage Sale

IGS is one of my favorite shows - I've sold there several times now, and the crowd of artists and customers just can't be beat. I'm looking forward to seeing my crafty pals again and making lots of new ones. I've got a lot of new items in the works so hopefully they will be well received.

The weekend after that on April 28 is Mayday Underground in Rochester.
I've never attended or sold at that show, but I've heard great things about it. I'm nervous about doing the 2 shows back to back, but hopefully within the next month I'll have enough inventory that I should be covered with enough items to sell. All I can do now is really hope that things sell!

I've been pretty busy lately - making things, finishing my taxes (ugh) and finding other summer shows to apply to. I'll be posting some of the new items I'll have on my Facebook page, so be sure to come and visit!

Holiday Indie Garage Sale 2011

Now that I've taken a few days to recuperate from the whirlwind that was the Holiday Indie Garage Sale, I thought I'd share the experience with you -

One thing I notice with every show I do is that my table displays get invariably better. With my latest line of ornaments I thought it would be appropriate to display on a christmas tree. Of course, toting around a live tree wouldn't be practical, and my first attempt using a fiber optic tree resulted in the ornaments just blending into the branches. On a visit to Hobby Lobby I found they had the perfect little tree - It matches my color scheme, and lets the ornaments shine (and I got it for 60% off).

I got the shelving units at Target - they were really handy for bringing my items up into view. Like these awesome new scale earrings -

They were really popular - I also found some nice bottles to display my wine bottle jewelry on -

The venue itself was amazing - I had only been to the train station once before a long time ago, but the interior is just lovely. Why cant public buildings have the same detail as they used to?

view from my booth

We were also lucky enough to witness the Polar Express ride. It was fun to see the kids walking around the station in their pyjamas, especially when their parents wore a matching set. There were "elves" singing carols, too, it's too bad the accoustics could be better in the building:

Of course I couldn't help but make a few purchases myself - I tried to get around to the shops I included in my Etsy treasury, here are a few things I came home with - 

A Zombie Dino Print (plus two others) from Our Secret Treehouse

Dumpling Animal Pins from Goats N Glory - I got the boston terrier, the narwhal, and a deer.

I also bought some gorgeous paper crane ornaments from East Knot West - They look great on the tree.

I wish I had been able to get around more and really shop, but I was there by myself and it was a crowded event! It's awesome that the show had such a great turnout - I love being in a community that supports local crafters and artists, and it is always fun to make new friends. The coordinators Rob and Alison always do a great job (even when there are setbacks they can't anticipate), and I know I appreciate all the effort they put in to make sure the show runs as smoothly as possible.

Now that there is only a week or so left until Christmas, I am busy fulfilling some orders and tweaking photos and things in my shop. After the holidays I'm going to give myself a little break to work on some side projects I haven't been able to get to, and then I'll get back to the workbench creating new pieces to ooh and aah over. I have a few more posts ready to go for the blog so stay tuned for those, too.

I wish you all a warm and Happy Holiday

Hope To See You There!

Back To School IGS Recap

After a long busy weekend and taking some time out to celebrate my birthday (it was yesterday - comes too fast every year!), I thought it was time to share my Indie Garage Sale experience with all of you.

I got up early on saturday morning since I couldn't make it to get my table set up the night before. I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted it since I've had the table up in my living room for about a week (which also meant I had to break it down the night before and pack everything in the car - I should've thought that one out a little better!)

The weather was glorious, traffic wasn't bad and I quickly found the arena even though I've never been there before. I arrived a good 2 hours early or so, and there were already a few early birds in spite of not many vendors being there and the sale didn't start til 11

I managed pretty well the first day on my own, as far as carrying everything in from my car and putting everything in place.

Day 1 Setup

In the background here you can see other vendors setting up - I met a lot of great people over the weekend!

Pendants Galore:

Bright and shiny bracelets:

Colorful pieces:

Just in the nick of time this week I received my hand displays to put rings on

Hiiiii You guys!

I like my shadowboxes for showing off the darker colored pieces - Black doesn't stand out very well against black, but grey is a-ok!

Earring Bling

This little tree is really a Halloween decoration - 

I got it at Michaels and thought it would be a great addition.

Unfortunately, I wish I could say my sales were better - I didn't even make my booth fee back on this show!

I think the IGS was in competition with too many other events this weekend - The Herkimer County Fair was going on, plus the Bouckville Antique show. Hopefully the holiday event will go better (and yes I'm definitely signing up!), and in the mean time the show was a good learning experience.

Day 2

On Day 2 my brother made it out to keep me company and helped with tear down and carrying everything to the car. Thanks so much little Brudder!

I re-arranged the bracelets into color order - isn't it so pretty?

While I wish the booth did better, I'm happy to say I had a fun time and it was so nice to meet some other local vendors! I think I did a pretty fair job networking at this show, and I've been checking out some more local fairs and shows to set up at too.

I'm looking forward to seeing all my new crafty friends (and you!) very soon.

Practice Practice Practice

I've been a busy B here in the salt mines, working my fingers to the bone making new jewelry as well as new callouses on my hands. With the Indie Garage Sale only a little over 4 days away (eep!), I've been working on my display table. While I've been lax in getting a banner made for my shop, I've been working on other aspects of my presentation. I have a few things ordered that will hopefully arrive just in time, but yesterday I thought I'd get started on a "trial run", which helps me see just what sort of pieces I have and what might need to be fixed or have extra work done to it.

That cover is what I've been using - Its just a plain old bed sheet! While it did serve a purpose, it didn't quite have that "finished" look. The ends of my table are still open, the color is faded, and it looks sort of tired. So I went to Target the other day and invested in an honest to goodness tablecloth - still black, but it'll give a much cleaner look.

I also got a second tablecloth to go on top

It's one of my "brand" colors

I've got a couple new display units coming, plus new pieces to show off - a real "body" of work if you will. If you're in the area, or you like to take a weekend drive, I hope you'll come out and see me at the Back to School Indie Garage Sale, this weekend. Saturday hours 11-6 and Sunday 11-4. Even if you dont buy anything you can just stop by and wish me an early Happy Birthday ;).

SCC At the Back To School Indie Garage Sale

Only two (very short) weeks away!

 Hope to see some of you local friends (and meet new ones) at the - 

Indie Garage Sale

You can see a list of the other vendors here 
(I just realized my banner is at the top of the list, woohoo!)

Feel free to print out the flier below to bring in for a raffle at the event!

I <315, support local handmade!

SCC at the Spring 2011 Indie Garage Sale

Well, I'm back from this weekends excursion east/homeward for the Indie Garage Sale on Saturday. I thought I'd share a little bit with you about it.

My table

The weather outside wasn't so fun, but I was happy to find once I walked in that I had a more comfortable location this time around- set back from the doors, so I didn't freeze my buns off! The only sad thing was a misprint in the program meant that I wasn't even on the map! Oops. No worries, though. I had a lot of fun at this event, and came up with a lot of new ideas. I think my table setup was much better than at the Holiday show, but it could still use some work. Everything is a learning process. I also got a few tips on summer events to look into vending at, so stay tuned for news on that front!

Besides vending myself, I did my own part supporting fellow artists, too. I found a few nice Mothers Day gifts. I wont mention what I got, though - Who knows if little birdies will tweet in someones ear and spoil the surprise.

One side note I'll share - I got as many comments on my little origami stars and my boots as I did about my jewelry! Go figure. I actually had people ask me how much the stars were. I should have said they were $30 and came with a free pendant. Do you think that would've been a good marketing tactic?

There was coverage by the local news station, plus a local project called The Couch that was interviewing vendors and shoppers. If I see any other interesting articles on the event, I'll be sure to share them here.

Spring 2011 Indie Garage Sale

Hope to see lots of friends and fans this weekend at the

Indie Garage Sale

Spring Ahead

Did you miss seeing Salt City Chains and many other great CNY vendors at the Holiday Indie Garage Sale?

Dont despair!

The Spring Edition is coming soon - Scheduled for April 16, 2011, just in time for Easter!

So mark your calendars and get your shopping baskets ready

Come out and support your local artists and craftsmen & women.

Hope to see you there!